When John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, stood on the Senate floor in January for the first time as the majority leader, he promised he would maintain the chamber’s norms and traditions, keeping alive a healthy spirit of debate and adhering to longstanding, though increasingly embattled, precedents.
“One of my priorities as leader will be to ensure that the Senate stays the Senate,” Mr. Thune said. “That means preserving the legislative filibuster, the Senate rule that today perhaps has the greatest impact on preserving the founders’ vision of the United States Senate.”
More than eight months into his tenure, the filibuster remains in the Senate’s tool kit. But Mr. Thune, like leaders of both parties before him, has presided over a substantial dulling of its edge.
On Wednesday, Republicans, led by Mr. Thune, completed a rare maneuver that effectively changed the Senate’s rules to allow blocs of nominees to be confirmed by a simple majority vote rather than a 60-vote supermajority, a move they muscled through along party lines. Mr. Thune called it a necessary corrective to end a Democratic blockade that was stalling confirmation of President Trump’s appointees.
But the move marked the third time this year that Mr. Thune had steered around Senate precedents to advance Mr. Trump’s priorities. In the process, he has strayed from his reputation as an institutionalist and bowed to the rough-and-tumble politics of an increasingly polarized Congress.
In May, Mr. Thune made an end run around the filibuster to block California’s plan to phase out gas-powered vehicles, turning to a complicated procedural process to help ease some Republicans’ concerns over unilaterally rewriting Senate rules.
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The post Upending Precedent, Thune Bows To Realities of a Polarized Senate appeared first on New York Times.
